


go to your window and paint a green heart

by celestictown



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crystals, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, High School, M/M, Magical Realism, Mutual Pining, Nature, Nature Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Relationship, Slice of Life, chapters /will/ vary in length, it's pretty lowkey tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26806624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestictown/pseuds/celestictown
Summary: The first time Oikawa Tooru meets Sugawara Koushi, it's in the neighbourhood park.
Relationships: Oikawa Tooru/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 60





	1. leaves

**Author's Note:**

> This is a mostly-unbeta'd landscape thanks for stopping by UwU 
> 
> If you were reading this from before the rewrite, here's the catch up:  
> \- I've (finally) finished Haikyuu  
> \- Fic playlist is still a work in progress 
> 
> title from these [two](https://twitter.com/poetastrologers/status/1305289952406765574) [tweets](https://twitter.com/poetastrologers/status/1305284971083567107).

The first time Tooru sees him outside of a volleyball match, it’s in early October. The cherry blossom trees in Hiyoriyama Park have completely transformed to cover the trails in a lush red canopy.

There were very few people in the park that Saturday. It’s particularly chilly, and the sporadic wind wasn’t doing anyone any favours. Tooru sees two people in the park aside from himself: the old man bundled in a blue scarf walks his Shiba on a different path, and the boy in a yellow parka sitting on a wooden bench. He’s a familiar face from volleyball for sure, but that’s as far as Tooru’s memory takes him. Seijoh must have played against their school once or twice.

Tooru doesn’t mean to slow down when he approaches the bench, doesn’t mean to look at him or his light grey hair for more than three seconds at a time in case he could sense Tooru’s presence. (The hair falls forward; his attention is focused on the book in his lap.)

The diversions don’t work. The boy looks up with curious eyes, and Tooru stops walking. When he speaks up, the wind quiets and the trees listen, too.

“You go to Aoba Johsai, right?”

Tooru blinks. “Yes. Oikawa Tooru. Second-year setter.”

“I thought you looked familiar.” The boy’s smile stretches a little, his lips still together, his eyes a little more closed. Bright red petals fall around them. Tooru takes the opportunity to stare at the beauty mark by his left eye. “Sugawara Koushi from Karasuno. Also a setter.”

“Nice to meet you properly, Sugawara-san.”

“And you, Oikawa-san. Not that we’ll really see each other until next term—and after that, who knows.” Sugawara says this in a light tone, but Tooru knows the weight of a volleyball loss as well as any other player. He may not have known Sugawara by name, or by the amount of time he spends on the court, but Karasuno hasn’t gotten very far in the preliminaries for years. Fallen crows, fallen champions.

Tooru nods. The only thing he can think to say is an apology, but it feels wrong. His gaze drops to the book in Sugawara’s lap. “Getting ahead in your studies then?”

“I don’t need to get ahead. My grades are good.” Tooru’s eye twitches at the smile on Sugawara’s face. He holds his book up so Tooru can see the cover. He tilts his head to read the spine, but he doesn’t recognize the author or the title. “I don’t have anything else to do today,” he continues, “so I’m just reading for fun.”

Reading for fun on a brisk autumn Saturday afternoon in Hiyoriyama. Yes, Tooru thinks, _fun_. “You’re not cold?”

Sugawara laughs. “I have gloves just in case. I’ve been here for almost an hour, but the chill wakes me up. I might head home after this.”

“Do you live in the area?” Tooru asks before he can stop himself. He doesn’t know why he asks. He wonders if they live in the same neighbourhood.

Sugawara nods. “Do you?”

Tooru bites back a smile. He points in the direction he’s headed in. “It’s about ten minutes away from here.”

“Funny. My home is about the same, that way.” Sugawara points in the opposite direction. “Maybe I’ll see you before the Spring Interhigh Qualifiers after all.”

“Mm. Maybe.” Tooru doesn’t really like walks—only runs, first thing in the morning or right after he gets home from school. He thinks afternoon walks could become a part of his routine if it means seeing Sugawara more.

“Maybe,” Sugawara repeats. The same smile sits on his face. Slim fingers fumble with a bookmark and a pencil and the closing of a book. Tooru watches him pack up and slip both his arms through his light blue backpack straps. When he stands up, Tooru notices Sugawara is a half-head shorter than him.“I think seeing you was an indicator that I should head home now. The wind follows you, Oikawa-san, and it’s picking up. Have a safe walk home.”

Tooru wants to tell him the wind had ceased for a while, but all that comes out of his mouth is, “Have a safe walk.”

He stands in place and watches Sugawara walk towards his home. He stops once, crouching to pick up a bundle of leaves; Tooru sees two yellow ones in the mass of red. There were only a few green trees in the park, but most of them were cherry blossom trees, but there is no real foliage on Sugawara’s path. He doesn’t know where the yellow leaves came from.

Tooru turns away when Sugawara is almost out of sight and walks in the direction of his own home. When he exits the park, a gust of wind whips the end of his scarf perfectly into his face.


	2. wanderer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello new chronological chapters have begun! i just really wanted to get this started asap.
> 
> i'd like to apologize for the weirdness/confusion of this fic from when i first started posting in october, and if you got a notification about a chapter titled "crystals," no u didn't 
> 
> if you just got a notif for this i'd recommend rereading chapters 1 and 3 because important details have been changed :-)

“You’re not going to wallow in sadness all weekend, are you?”

“That _was_ the plan until you called, Iwa-chan.”

“Oh good. So you know I’m going to drag you out of the house.”

Tooru sighs loudly into his bedroom. “Okay, fine. When will you be here?”

“I’m five minutes away, actually. Get your ass moving before I leave you behind.” Hajime laughs when he hears Tooru scrambling. He hangs up before Tooru can reply.

Within seven minutes, he’s by his front door and slipping into running shoes. He’s wearing running shorts and a Seijoh t-shirt. He sees Hajime walking up to his door through the glass, and the door is open before Tooru can stand up.

“I’m surprised,” Hajime says. “You’re actually ready when you need to be.”

“You’re the one that’s two minutes late.” Tooru grins at him. He looks in the mirror one last time and slips on a headband to keep his hair out of his face.

Hajime gives him a look.

Tooru blinks. “What?”

“You haven’t used a headband since we started high school.”

“There’s a reputation you need to keep up when you’re captain, and that includes your hair.”

“That’s just you trying to keep the girls interested. As if they _wouldn’t_ fall over their feet for your forehead.” Fingers reach into Tooru’s vision to flick his forehead.

“Iwa-chan, you’re so mean.” Tooru frowns. “Keep that up and I’ll think _you’re_ the one with a crush on me.”

Hajime blinks once, twice. His blank expression doesn’t change. “You wish I cared about you that much,” he says. He starts jogging before Tooru can close his door.

It’s a hot June morning with the sun high in the sky when they begin their run. Tooru forgot to carry a water bottle and a timer—Hajime didn’t remind him because _that’s your problem not mine_ —so he has to ask any time he wants a running update. They’re roughly fifteen minutes into their run when Tooru asks to slow down.

Hajime scoffs. “Don’t be weak. We can stop in the park and you can drink from the fountain.”

“How far is the park?”

“About five more minutes.”

They enter Hiyoriyama sweaty and panting, but when Tooru sees the fountain he runs faster than he has the entire track. He ignores Hajime’s shouts behind him and focuses solely on quenching his thirst.

When Hajime catches up to him, he’s satiated enough to smile. “You really wanted me to die, didn’t you?”

“I’m not answering that,” Hajime says. His gaze shifts to something behind Tooru. “Isn’t that the third-year setter from Karasuno?”

Tooru turns to look in the same direction. They’re in a raised part of the park where benches overlook the ocean, not far in the distance, and a torii stands alone near the gates lining the area. On one of the benches, there’s a head of light grey hair. He wipes at his eyes to keep the sweat out of his contacts. “Yeah. Sugawara Koushi.”

“You remember him?”

Since their first meeting in October Tooru has only come across Sugawara three or four times, even though he had gone on a walk every other Saturday. At one point Tooru thought if he kept a set schedule for when to go on his walk, he’d see Sugawara more, but that didn’t help for the one month he tried. The first two times after their initial meeting were in around noon, when winter was warmest and after that was one meeting at sunset.

The last time Tooru saw Sugawara was in late April, just as peak cherry blossom season was ending. He had gone on a walk after dinner to be alone with his thoughts and clear his head, but he found Sugawara sifting through falling petals in the light of the park’s lamps. When he caught sight of Tooru he waved, and Tooru waved back, but Sugawara did not initiate conversation. Tooru had been grateful that he somehow knew not to approach him, even if he _was_ a little disappointed.

“Iwa-chan,” Tooru says, not taking his eyes off of the back of Sugawara’s head, “can you wait for me at the edge of the park? I have some matters to take care of.”

“That’s uncharacteristically serious of you,” Hajime deadpans. He checks his phone and shows Tooru his lockscreen clock. “You have ten minutes until the clock tower dings. If I don’t see you running to me by then I’m leaving you.”

“You wouldn’t leave me.”

“Don’t be late, Shittykawa,” Hajime says, running ahead.

Tooru watches him head off before wrapping his headband around his wrist and jogging down a different path towards the torii. He can’t see what his hair looks like, but it must look better than when it’s pulled back.

The sounds of the ocean are clear when he sits himself down a hands-width away from Sugawara, who jumps at the sudden approach. Tooru relishes the expression on his face: eyes wide and taken aback, shoulders tense, overall expression like a deer in the headlights. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Sugawara caught off guard, and it’s cute.

Tooru shifts away on the bench to give him space. He watches Sugawara’s shoulders relax. “I haven’t seen you in a while, outside of the tournament.”

“I’m always around, though.” Sugawara smiles. “The first years are very energetic about matches. They’re quite the handful.”

“Is this a break from parental duties?”

“You could say that.” Sugawara closes the book in his lap. Tooru glances at the title; he doesn’t recognize this one, either. “So,” he continues, “how was the match against Shiratorizawa?”

A little pang shoots through his chest. The match had only been three days ago, but feeling Ushiwaka’s gaze as the last ball hit the floor was ingrained in his memory. He bites his lip. “We lost.”

“Ah. I know the feeling.”

An amused noise comes out of Tooru’s throat. “You played well, though—all of Karasuno did. Just don’t tell Kageyama I said that.”

Sugawara runs a hand through his hair. “Seijoh played well, too—”

“You shouldn’t undermine yourself, Suga-chan.”

“I didn’t play all that much. Don’t you mean I shouldn’t undermine my team?”

Tooru opens his mouth only to close it again. He doesn’t know if that’s what he meant. He’s distracted by how Sugawara doesn’t miss a beat; he continued speaking and didn’t comment on the nickname.

Tooru doesn’t look away when Sugawara turns to face the water. He closes his eyes and lets out a long, noisy exhale. “Our teacher talked to us about whether we should retire from volleyball or not. University is coming up. You’ve probably gotten the same talk.”

He hasn’t. Irihata-sensei has voiced his high hopes about Tooru’s continued success in volleyball. Even though they lost, the coach only spoke to him about how practice will run next week, as though pursuing a university path isn’t in his stars.

Tooru thinks about seeing Sugawara at the next match in October. He thinks about scanning Karasuno’s lineup only to see Jersey Number 2 worn by a second-year. “What did you say?”

“I’m going to retire.”

Tooru doesn’t have anywhere else to look. If he had looked away earlier, he would have swung his gaze back to Sugawara, but his eyes never left him. Sugawara is still looking at the water, not really smiling. The tug in Tooru’s stomach, in his heart, returns.

Sugawara Koushi turns to look at him with the same straightforward expression. It breaks, and he laughs, loud and bright. “I’m sorry,” he says, smile now plastered to his face. “I didn’t think it would scare you to not see me at a match again, Oikawa-san.”

“It doesn’t,” Tooru says, a little too quickly. “It didn’t scare me. We live near each other. I could see you anytime I wanted.”

“Anytime?” Sugawara hums. He stretches his legs out in front of him. “I guess I’ll have to hold you to that.”

“For how long?”

“Indefinitely.”

Some part of Tooru’s usual confidence returns—he narrows his eyes. “If I don’t see you at Nationals I’ll be forced to pick you up from school on a different day.”

Sugawara’s eyebrows raise, off guard again, but he regains his composure quickly. “There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

“I guess so.” Tooru holds his gaze. He doesn’t know how much time passes, but Sugawara shifts closer and leans in, still smiling, until their faces are inches apart. Tooru blinks.

He brings a hand up to tug something out of Tooru’s hair.

“A good luck charm,” Sugawara says. He holds the stem of the leaf between his thumb and forefinger and suspends it between their faces. “It’s yours. Place it between parchment and flatten it in a heavy book to preserve it.”

When Tooru doesn’t move, Sugawara places it in his hand for him. “How do I know it’s lucky?”

“You don’t. You’ll just have to trust me.” He pulls back. “You should go before Iwaizumi-san leaves you.”

“How—” There’s no time to think about it. The bell tower rings for the hour and Tooru jumps at the sound. “Okay, okay. I need to leave. I’m going to leave now. I’ll—I will take care of my good luck charm.”

He doesn’t wait for Sugawara to respond, but as he runs off he hears: “I hope it helps with your wandering, Oikawa-san!”

Hajime is squatting by one of the park’s entrances when Tooru shows up. He stands and stretches and looks at the leaf in Tooru’s hand. “What’s that?” 

“A lucky leaf.”

“It’s just a regular leaf.”

“Maybe,” Tooru concedes, “but it’s lucky to me.” He pulls back his phone case and slips the leaf inside. “You must really love me if you waited this long for me, Iwa-chan.”

Hajime’s eyes turn heavy. “You weren’t even gone that long.”

“Still. Thanks for loving me, yeah?”

“Let’s keep running before I shove your face into the ground.”

So they run. Tooru wonders what Sugawara meant by _wandering_. He wonders if he has ever truly wandered without a destination in mind, and the only time he can recall is the last time he saw Sugawara. Even today, they’re running. There’s a purpose. That doesn’t count as wandering.

“Iwa-chan,” Tooru says, “do you think I’m wandering?”

Hajime slows down to match Tooru’s pace. “What do you mean?”

What _does_ he mean? “I don’t know.”

“Well.” Keeping the same pace, Hajime looks up to the sky. “In general, I think only you know the answer to that, even if you haven’t thought about it.”

“What’s your answer if it’s not in general?”

“Ah.” Hajime smiles. “If it’s about Karasuno’s setter, you will be.”

Tooru furrows his brows. “What does that mea—”

Hajime makes a sharp right at the next turn, and it jolts Tooru so suddenly that he trips over his own two feet and almost faceplants into the concrete. When he regains his footing, Hajime is well ahead of him. “Your place is up this way, Dumbass-kawa.”

“Tch.” Tooru pushes himself to move faster. So maybe he was distracted enough that he almost missed his street. Hajime must have a point—he usually does, not that Tooru will admit it out loud—but he doesn’t know what that point is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you'd like to see me yell about writing this (among other things), catch me on [twt](twitter.com/uncovareyoumine)!


	3. big sweater

They meet again on the court during the Interhigh qualifiers at the end of October. Karasuno and Aoba Johsai stand in a line at the end of their match, and Koushi shakes hands with Matsukawa Issei, though he feels Oikawa’s gaze when they move to the opposite sides of the court. Conversational white noise fills the gymnasium and the speaker announces a fifteen-minute break before the next set of matches.

Koushi is standing by the exit, debating whether to run to the washroom or not, when Oikawa pulls him aside, into the hallway just past the double doors.

His eyes are glossy. Koushi thinks Oikawa might cry, but he never does. They know that the other understands loss, but Koushi commends him for holding back in front of his opponent. When Oikawa finally speaks, he asks, “Do you want to come over sometime?”

Koushi isn’t sure what _sometime_ means. There’s still six weeks before school ends, and tests before winter break, and not long after that a one-week university prep course. He’ll see Oikawa if they ever visit each other’s matches, and maybe he’ll see him in the park on a walk, but the weather is cold and Oikawa’s high school volleyball career has come to an end. Koushi doesn’t know if he’s still going to continue with volleyball or not.

He chooses not to ask—Oikawa will answer when he wants to. “When?”

“Whenever you want.”

“That’s very liberal of you.” A smile pulls at Koushi’s lips. “I can find you ten minutes northeast of Hiyoriyama, right?”

Oikawa grins at him. “Something like that.” He pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket, folded into a perfect square. “Here are the directions. There’s no rush. Just… let me know. Whenever.”

“Do you have university prep?” Koushi asks.

Oikawa does. He shares where he’ll be and what class he’s in, and they’re not in the same class, but they _are_ in the same building, so they opt to have Koushi sleep over on Friday after prep ends.

Neither of them have plans on the Saturday. “Keep it like that,” Oikawa tells him. “Let’s do something.”

Koushi raises his eyebrows. “What—”

The doors slam open to reveal Iwaizumi Hajime, angry and latching his fingers onto Oikawa’s ear. “Yo, Shittykawa, stop hiding from us—the bus was about to leave without you—”

“Text me later, Suga-chan!” Oikawa calls out. The words are slightly strangles as he tries to catch up to Iwaizumi, who refuses to let up on his ear.

Koushi can still hear Oikawa’s pleas after the front door slams shut behind them. He tries not to think about the nickname. He unfolds the square paper just enough to see a phone number above the set of directions. When the doors open again, it’s Daichi. “Suga—you all right?”

“Yeah.” He tucks Oikawa’s paper into his pocket. “I’m good.”

“Okay, come back in. The next match is starting soon. We need to talk strategy.”

§

Oikawa Tooru lives in a house in a suburban neighbourhood some fourteen minutes from Hiyoriyama and a fifteen minute bus ride from the prep school. His mother is all gentle smiles and smells like firewood and sweet potatoes and his father is currently away on a business trip.

On Saturday morning, Koushi wakes up before sunrise. It’s accidental—he slept on Oikawa’s bedroom floor on a comfortable roll-out mattress with two heavy blankets, but he still managed to wake up shivering. His heat retention is never this poor, but the wind does like to follow Oikawa. Making as little noise as possible, Koushi takes a small pouch out of his backpack and slips into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He plugs the sink and waits for it to fill with lukewarm water.

When he rifles through his emergency pouch, there’s only one piece of amber instead of two, and it’s smooth instead of raw, but he’ll have to make do with what he has. He clasps the crystal between his shaky palms, submerges them in the sink, and closes his eyes.

He waits.

It isn’t long before the amber takes effect. He feels a warmth in his hands, under his skin, and it crawls up his forearms, his biceps—

Someone knocks the door. Koushi drops the amber, and the warmth fades into something more faint. The important thing is that he can feel his fingers again. It tingles under his skin. “Suga-chan? Are you in there?”

“Yes.” Koushi ignores the honorific with warm cheeks. He flushes the toilet to cover the sound of water draining out of the sink. As the water drains he dries the smooth amber and places it back in his pouch. When he opens the door, he says, “I just woke up. It was really cold.”

“Cold,” Oikawa says. Do you have anything you can wear over your pyjamas?”

Now that Koushi thinks about it, he only has his current shorts and t-shirt. The only other clothes he brought were black pants and a button-down. “No. Just my winter coat.”

“You can’t wear that back to sleep.”

“What time is it?”

“Around 6.” Oikawa beckons him back to his bedroom. Before Koushi has a chance to blink, Oikawa throws a sweater at him, and he catches it by the sleeve before it can fall. It’s a large cable-knit, too dark in the room to see the colour properly. “Wear this. It’s my warmest sweater. If you were cold you should have said so.”

Koushi slips the sweater on over his t-shirt, and the chill seeps out of his body faster than it did with the amber’s warmth. “Thank you.”

Oikawa slips back under his covers, asleep almost instantly. He told Koushi the night before that his alarm is set for 8:30, but that’s only for when he has to be somewhere. If he wanted to sleep in, Oikawa told him, they could do that as well. Koushi slips back under the blankets and hides his hands in the sleeves of the sweater, warm and asleep as fast as Oikawa. 

They wake with the alarm. Oikawa takes his clothes into the bathroom to change, but it takes Koushi a moment before he starts moving when he catches his reflection in the bedroom mirror. (The sweater is lavender, and Koushi really likes it.) He only takes the sweater off to wear his button-down as an extra layer, and he likes the way the colours look together.

Down in the kitchen, Oikawa stops plating their breakfast to stare at him. Koushi stares back. “What?”

“The sweater,” he says, smiling. “The colour is pretty with your hair.”

“Thank you for lending it to me.” Koushi can’t look him in the eye. He takes his plate and sits at the table.

“Was it warm enough?” Oikawa asks.

“It was warm because it was yours.” Koushi still can’t look at Oikawa, not yet. He can feel Oikawa smiling at him. He clears his throat. “There was no wind in the threads.”

When they finish eating, they walk west out of Oikawa’s neighbourhood with fresh dorayaki from a local vendor. They stop in front of the Sate Masamune Historical Museum, staring at the front entrance. Oikawa smiles, wide, and says, “We’ve arrived.”

Koushi looks up at the welcome sign. “The history museum?”

“Yeah. They opened a new limited exhibit on bugs last month. Are you squeamish?”

“No.”

“Good, because I thought I could drag you along with me for company.” Oikawa shrugs. “I’m just glad you came over while it was still open, otherwise I’d have to beg Hajime, and he would just complain the whole time.”

Koushi looks at him, amused. “What if _I_ complained the whole time?”

Oikawa’s nonchalant air cracks and he meets Koushi’s eyes. “Would you?”

“No.” Koushi smiles. “But I’m looking forward to spending time with you.”

“With—” Oikawa’s cheeks colour. “Right. Well. I hope you like it as much as I do.”

“I didn’t know you liked bugs that much, Oikawa-san.”

“I’ll bore you with that story another day. Let’s go inside.” He tugs Koushi forward by his wrist since his hands are in his pockets, and Koushi smiles at how much excitement Oikawa is trying to hide.

In the exhibit, Koushi leans in close to let Oikawa know he’s enjoying it. He doesn’t want to break the silence of the museum with loud chatter. He can tell Oikawa doesn’t believe him, not entirely, but Koushi doesn’t want to tell him that the exhibit is second to Oikawa’s beaming face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> notes:  
> \- amber is a stone known for its warmth  
> \- i'm making up the magic stuff as i go along  
> \- dorayaki is "a red-bean pancake which consists of two small pancake-like patties made from castella wrapped around a filling of sweet azuki bean paste." (wikipedia)


	4. dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> allo! unbeta'd as usual. if you catch a typo and let me know, i will truly be grateful.

They don’t last very long after the exhibit before Koushi asks, “Will you tell me now?”

“Tell you about what?” Oikawa asks, looking straight ahead. The air has chilled and his exhales manifest in long, thin puffs.

“About the bugs.”

“Do you really want to know?”

“It seems important to you,” Koushi says. “So—yes.”

Oikawa laughs. The wind laughs with him. Koushi pulls his scarf further up over his face. “Now I feel like I need to give you a dramatic backstory. It’s not exciting.” He pauses. “It’s not that long of a story either.”

“I guess you’re not as mysterious as you make yourself seem, Oikawa-san.”

“Ha.” For a moment, Koushi thinks he won’t hear the reason for this love of insects. Then, in a gentler voice: “Iwa-chan is the only one that knows about this.”

Unspoken, Koushi hears: _I guess I could tell you, too_. He smiles into his scarf. “Mystery’s returned.”

They fall into step with each other and Oikawa tells him to wait until they find someplace to sit, where drinks could warm their hands and noses. The silence is comforting as they walk through the streets. Oikawa is preoccupied with looking at storefronts, so Koushi takes the time to steal a few glances at him in all of his so-called crush-inducing glory. His brown hair swoops away from his face and somehow manages to stay out of his bright brown eyes.

Koushi still remembers the screams of fans from their previous matches. He had overheard one girl talking about how, when Oikawa looked at her in the school hallway once, she almost melted into his eyes and their warmth. Now, watching those eyes flit from store to store, Koushi wonders how true that is.

“This looks promising,” Oikawa says, pausing in front of a little tea shop. Three little steps lead up to the entrance. “What do you think?”

“I’ve always been more a tea person,” Koushi says. It may be coincidence, but he feels the wind pushing them towards the door. 

Inside, there are only three tables and six seats, five of which are unoccupied. They order a pot of simple oolong at the counter and Oikawa moves to take the table farthest from the window.

Koushi follows him, unzipping his jacket. Without thinking about it, he says, “You always seemed more like a window-seat person, Oikawa-san.”

“Because of my dashing good looks, right?” He makes an extravagant gesture to his face with a beaming smile. Koushi agrees with the statement—the screaming fans come to mind again—but he doesn’t say so.

He takes his own seat just as the waitress approaches them. She sets the stoneware pot down on the table. Although they both thank her, her eyes are trained on Oikawa the whole time, and she giggles as she walks away.

When she’s out of earshot, most of Oikawa’s smile falls. “That _is_ why I avoid window seats, actually. It’s attention when I don’t want it.”

“I see,” Koushi says, but he hadn’t expected that reaction. Oikawa doesn’t look like he wants to talk about it any more than they just have. He picks up the pot with careful hands and pours tea into their cups. “So onto more important matters…”

“The bugs, right?”

Koushi smiles. He takes his tea cup and sits back in his chair. “The bugs,” he confirms.

“All right, all right—it was summertime, ten years ago…” Oikawa begins. The words carry the storytelling feel of a bard with a tale, but it fades after that, and he looks into his cup with a small smile. “We went to a family friend’s cottage in Aomori for a week. I didn’t really have anyone to play with, but the area was very quiet, so I would go out wandering on my own a lot.”

“Were you lonely?”

Oikawa raises his eyebrows. “That’s not a statement.”

“Because I can’t tell.” Koushi sips his tea. It’s true that he prefers to simply _say_ things rather than ask—also because he knows he is good at going with his gut feeling—but he’s always known that Oikawa is a little more shielded than he lets on.

“I felt a little lonely at first,” he admits, “but two days into the trip, I got used to the feeling. I started to look forward to my walks, and my parents were fine with it. One day I wandered into the nearby park after sunset, though. It was one of those large parks with a separate path to walk on.”

Oikawa pauses for so long that Koushi wonders if he remembers the rest, or if he just decided he no longer wants to share the rest of the memory. Then he asks, “Have you ever seen fireflies at night?”

“A handful or so, yes.”

Oikawa takes a large gulp before setting the cup down. He leans forward, his lips straining to keep some semblance of a normal smile; Koushi can’t help it when his own lips curl as well.

“Imagine that handful, Suga-chan,” Oikawa says. His voice is conspiratorially quiet. As he talks, the smile grows. “Now imagine five more, then ten more, and then imagine the _entire park_ is full of them.”

Koushi doesn’t say anything. He watches Oikawa’s bright eyes shining in the incandescent glow of the shop. He thinks this type of warm gaze is different than what the Seijoh girl was talking about, but he has an idea about what she meant. He thinks what he’s seeing at that moment is better, anyways.

“They came out one at a time at first,” he continues. He looks at Koushi now, but his thoughts are far away, remembering the park in Aomori. He doesn’t need to be a mind reader to know that. “I lost count after twenty, but those were only from the first ‘handful’ in front of me. When I spun around to look at the entire park I watched stars streaking the air right before my eyes. Did you know that fireflies, when in a large group, blink in unison?”

Koushi did not know that. “It sounds beautiful.”

Still leaning forward, Oikawa’s gaze returns to Koushi, proper. “It was one of the most breathtaking moments I ever had the honour of experiencing.”

As quickly as Oikawa managed to immerse himself in his memory he pulls himself out, sits up straight, and smiles sweetly at the same waitress approaching them a second time. Koushi didn’t even notice her footsteps.

“Is everything to your liking?” she asks, her eyes never leaving Oikawa’s face. His eyes are closed he smiles in her direction, but he opens them to look at Koushi.

“What do you think, Suga-chan?” Oikawa croons. “Did you like the tea?”

“It’s wonderful,” Koushi says, suddenly aware. The waitress only turns to him because Oikawa acknowledged him. That seems to be the Tooru Effect. He smiles at the waitress. “I’ll be sure to come back if I can.”

Her eyes flit back to Oikawa for a brief moment. “We’d love to have you again. Let me know if you need anything else or are ready to pay.”

Koushi watches as Oikawa brings the cup to his lips when she started talking. He doesn’t lower it even though Koushi noticed she was waiting for Oikawa to be the one to speak.

“We’ll be sure to call you over,” Koushi ends up saying. She bows and leaves them.

Oikawa sets down his cup. “So,” he says, “there’s the backstory you asked for, in all of its plain glory.”

“It’s not plain at all.” When his reaction is to roll his eyes, Koushi adds, “I mean it, Oikawa-san. It sounds like that was the birth of a careful dream. You have to be gentle with those.”

Something flickers across Oikawa’s face that Koushi can’t pinpoint. He pours the last of the tea into Koushi’s cup.

“Yeah,” Oikawa finally says. He keeps his gaze lowered, his smile small. “Maybe that’s what it was. A careful dream.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> catch me on twitter at [uncovareyoumine](https://twitter.com/uncovareyoumine) <3


	14. books

future chapter 14. will be (re-)released with chapter 15! 


	19. tea

future chapter 19. will be (re-)released with chapter 20! 

**Author's Note:**

> u can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/uncovareyoumine) and [tumblr](https://dumbyaoi.tumblr.com)!


End file.
